it's part of a unique program taught by new york's lincoln center theater. >> ♪ shiny, shiny >> ♪ hop on a plane to rio >> the songwriting in the schools program sends professional lyricists and composers into classrooms to create characters with students and write songs from the character's perspective, and then the composers collaborate with the students to create music to set their songs to. >> some of those characters are drawn from real experiences. >> ♪ you make me feel this way ♪ i tried so hard to make this right ♪ ♪ why can't you just see what i'm feeling? ♪ >> others come to life in the students' imaginations. >> we got a picture of -- a photo of an elderly lady, and we just had to free-write, so that's how i got the idea. >> ♪ all of you are outside my box ♪ ♪ don't take me as a joke ♪ i am above you ♪ you're little ones to me, so call me mrs. monroe ♪ >> well, to me, free-writing is writing what you have in your mind right at the moment, you know, what you feel is right and what you think -- what you like the most. >> basically for lyrics, what we did